Flame hardening apparatus



y 1945- R. G. LE TOURNEAU FLAME HARDENING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 25, 19425 Sheets-Sheet l li'r'gll INVENTOR E. 6'. Le Tourneau.

WAX/4 W May 1, 1945.

R. G. LE TOURN EAU FLAME HARDENING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 25, 1942 3Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR R G. LPYburnea w HTTYS May 1, 1945.

R. .6. LE TOURNEAU FLAME HARDENING APPARATUS 1942 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 FiledAug. 25

INVENTOR R. G. Le 7burneau,

M Maui? Patented May 1, 1945 FLAME- HARDENING APPARATUS Robert G. LeTourneau, Peoria, 111., assignor to R. G. Le Tourneau, Inc., Stockton,CaliL, a corporationvot California Application August 25, 1942, SerialNo. 456,023 '12 Claims. (Cl. 266-4) This invention relates in general toflame hardening apparatus, and in particular the invention is directedto, and it is an object to prothe member when the support is moved to araised position being disposed in a heating zone, and the member whenthe support is moved to a lowered position being disposed in a quenchingzone. I

A further object of this invention is to provide, in flame hardeningapparatus, a pair of spaced vertically movable supports for-members tobe hardened, a horizontal flame or burner unit mounted in a plane abovesaid supports iorhorizontal movement between positions in verticalalinement with said supports, and actuating means arranged to swing saidburner unit alternately from one such position to the other, with apredetermined time lapse between each movement, and during which lapsethe burner unit is stationary; there being means to movethe'corresponding support vertically to a raised position and to projectthe member thereon into the unit when the latter is in alined stationaryposition thereabove, the supported members being disposed in a quenchingzone when the supports are moved to a lowered position. An advantage ofthis arrangement is that only a single burner unit is required, which isbeing constantly used without any material non-use and waste of theheating means being had. 3

An additional object of this invention is to provide flame hardeningapparatus, as in the preceding paragraph, in which said support movingmeans is actuated in timed relation to the alter nate movement oftheburner unit; the raised support for a member disposed within the unitbeing moved to lowered position immediatelyprior to the end of saidpredetermined time lapse whereby to clear said member from the unit before the next swinging movement of the latter.

It is also-an object of the invention to provide flame hardeningapparatus in which, in addition to the above features, the moving meansfor said supports is operative to effect timed movement of each supportto a raised position to permit unloading and loading of said support,and subsequent return movement to alowered specification and claims.

position, when said support is out of alinement with the burner unit.

A further object oi the invention is to provide, in novel assembly, amotor actuated cam mechanism arranged in controlling relation with theflame ring unit actuating means, and the separate actuating means forthe pedestals which support the members.

A further object of the invention is to Dr duce a simple and inexpensivedevice and yet one which will be exceedingly eflective for the purposefor which it is designed.

These objects I accomplish by means of such structure and relativearrangement of parts as will fully appear by the perusal of thefollowing *In'the drawings similar characters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in the several views:

Figure l is a side elevation of the apparatus partly in section;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the apparatus.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional elevation of the oil tank illustratingone of the air cylinder and pedestal assemblies in lowered position; theordnance shell supported thereon being disposed with its nose in thecorresponding quenching ring.

Figure 4 is a reduced size, somewhat diagrammatic plan view of the motoractuated cam mechanism which controls the flame ring unit actuatingmeans, and the separate air cylinder and pedestal assemblies.

I Figure 5 is a detached sectional elevation of a shell-nose heating orburner unit.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on thedrawings, the apparatus comprises an open-topped tank I which isrectangular in plan and of substantial depth; this tank being supportedsome distance above the floor by legs 2.

A pair of vertically disposed, single acting air tank. The piston rods 5of .said cylinders project upwardly into the tank to a termination somedistance above said bottom 4 thereof. A hub 6 is fixed on each pistonrod 5 within the tank adiacentth'e bottom 4, and this hub is journaledin bearings I and 8; the bearings I being mounted in a horizontalplatform 9 within the tank above the bottom 4, while the bearing 4 issuitably mounted in said bottom of the tank. A-

relatively large diameter, horizontal gear I0 is formed with each hub 6below the corresponding platform 9 and is driven by a pinion ll of agear train, indicated generally at l2, which includes a vertical driveshaft l3 projecting downwardly through the bottom of the tank; thisshaft l3 being driven by any suitable means (not shown).

The piston rods 5above the corresponding platform 9 are each fitted witha horizontal circular diSc or support H on which the object to behardened is adapted to seat, such object in the present instance beingshown as an ordnance shell S. The piston rods 5 and pedestals areconstantly driven from the gear train |2.

A quenching ring I5 is mounted in tank I in centered relation about eachdisc l4; each ring being supported by legs I6 from the adjacent platform9, and being open top and bottom. The quenching rings l5 are ofsubstantial height and each is formed to include a surrounding andannular chamber I T from which the quenching oil is discharged inwardlythrough a multiplicity of relatively small hole l8 in the ring. Oilunder- J pressure is fed from pipes l9 intothe chamber II at four pointsin its circumference. The pipes l9 are fed from a supply pipe 20 whichis disposed outside tank I and which connects with a reservoir tank andpump: assembly (not shown).

of tank I below cylinder 30, and this platform is fitted with anupstanding wall 34. An electric motor is mounted on platform 33 and bymeans of a belt 35 drives a pair of coupled speed reduction boxes 31 and38; the output shaft of speed reduction box 38 being indicated at 39,which is outwardly of wall 34, as shown in Fig. 4.

A rotary cam is secured on shaft 39 outwardly of wall 34, and is formedwith a high cam surface 4| and a low cam surface 42; such cam surfacesbeing of equal length. A two-way valve 43 is supported by and in frontof wall 34 adjacent rotary cam 49; a source of air pressure beingconnected to valve43 by a conduit 44, while conduits connect the valve43 with opposite ends of the heating unit actuating cylinder 30. Thevalve43 includes a cam engaging lever 46 which rides cam 43, and withrotation of said cam the j present embodiment being one revolution everyThe small; relatively high velocity stream of oil from holes l8 strikethe nose of shell S when the latter and its support are in loweredposition, and then the oil falls into the tank wherein a predeterminedoil level is maintained; the excess oil flowing out of a suitable drainback to the reservoir tank.

A gas manifold 2| is disposed horizontally some distance above the topof tank i, and this manifold is swingably mounted, by means of adepending insulated sleeve 22, on a post 23 for alternate movementbetween positions in vertical concentric alinement with the quenchingrings l5 and corresponding supports 14. The post 23 is tubular andjatits upper end communicates with the interior -"iif manifold 2|;there-being a gas seal 24 between the post and said manifold, and thelower end of the post connecting with a gas supply Pipe 25. a v

A burner 0r flame unit 28 of suitable type is disposed within adepending hood 21' heavily lined with flreclay plaster or the like andadapted to surround the nose of a shell projecting into the hood inclearance relation thereto, as indicated in Fig. 5. The burner and hoodas a unit are supp rted within manifold 2| in centralized relation tothe shell support below, gas for the burner being supplied from themanifold by a pipe 28.

The heating unit is alternately moved between centered positions overthe supports l4 by means of the following mechanism: A radial arm 29 issecured to and projects from tbe'manifold supporting sleeve 22 adjacentthe lower end of the latter. A double acting air cylinder 30 is disposedhorizontally and in ofiset relation to the radial arm, such cylinderbeing pivoted at one end on a horizontal bracket 3| which projects fromone end of tank I. The piston rod 32 of cylinder 30 is pivoted at itsouter end in connection with radial arm 29. The rod 32, when actuated inone direction. swing the heating unit over one support M in centeredrelation, and when actuated in the other direction swings said heatingunit over the other support in centered relation.

The piston rod 32 is alternately actuated at redetermined intervals bymeans of the following described mechanism:

A horizontal platform 33 projects from the side sixteen minutes. Theheating unit thus remains in each centered position with a support forap- L proximately eight minutes.

" 'I'he rods 5 of air cylinders 3 are each actuated in a predeterminedsequence of raising and lower ing movements by the followingarrangement:

Another rotary cam 41 is fixed on shaft 39 outwardly of rotary cam 40. Apair of one-way valves 48 and 49 are supported from wall 34 adjacentsaid rotary cam 41 but on opposite sides thereof, said valves 48 and 49including valve actuating levers 50 riding the periphery of cam 41 atpoints apart. The levers 50 are maintained in frictional contact withthe periphery of rotary cam 41 by a tension spring 5|, which extendsacross the face of said cam and connects between said levers.

Rotary cam 41 likewise rotates once every sixteen minutes. and theperiphery of this cam is formed as a high cam surface 52 of sevenminutes relative length. a following low cam surface 53 of four minutesrelative length, then a high cam surface 54 of four minutes relativelength. and finally a low cam surface 55 of one minute relative length.

The valves 48 and 49 are each connected by a conduit 51 with the lowerend of corresponding cam 4'! 180 apart, the valves operate the corre--sponding cylinders 3 to move pedestals |4 through like sequences ofmovement, but onehalf cycle apart.

The sequence of movement of each shell supporting disc I4 is as follows:the sequence for the cylinder 3 and pedestal 1 l4 corresponding to valve48 beingdescribed for the purpose of clarity.

With each revolution of rotary cam 47, the high cam surface 52 operatesthe valve 48 so that the corresponding cylinder rod 5 is actuated andraises the disc H for a shell heating period of seven minutes; the disc,when in fully raised position, being disposed so that the nose only of ashell S seated on the disc projects within the heating zone of theheating unit which is then centered thereabove. At the end of the sevenminute heating period, the low cam surface 53 comes into play, whereuponthe valve 48 vents and the disc and the supported shell lowers bygravity; the heating unit by action of cam 40 then swinging to thealternate heating position over the other disc, as will hereafterappear.- The heated nose of the shell, when the disc is in fully loweredposition, is disposed within and treated by the corresponding quenchingring IS. The shell support remains lowered and the nose of the shellremains within the quenching ring for the four minute length of lowcamsurface 53, and then the high cam surface 54 functions to cause thesupport to again be raised to permit of removal of the treated shellfrom the disc and placement of an untreated shell in its place. At theend of this unloading and'loacling period of four minutes duration, thelow cam surface 55 vents the valve 48 and causesthe support to drop forone minute; this one minute in lowered position being for the purpose ofpermitting the heating unit to swing into centered position over saidsupport for another heating period, which will immediately follow. 1

The heating unit control cam 40 is set in such relation to disc controlcam 41 as to efiectswinging of the flame ring unit into centeredposition over each disc, while the latter is in lowered positioncorresponding .to low cam surface 55 and which is immediately prior toraising movement of the pedestal for a shell heating periodcorresponding to high cam surface 52; and to effect swinging'movement ofthe heating unit away from each centered position over a disc to thealternate centered position immediately after the heating period andwhen the disc lowers to shell quenching position corresponding to lowcam surface 53. It will thus be seen that as each disc is subsequentlyraised by the influence of high cam surface 54 for unloading andloading, the heating unit is in an alternate andoutof-the-way position.

This relative setting of the cams 40 and M is easily accomplished, asthe sequence 'of movements of the two shell supports are, as previouslyindicated, alike and exactly one-half cycle apart,

\ and the heating unit is swung between its alternatepositions after,minutes. M

The advantages of the apparatus reside in the automatic and timedcontrol of the heating, quenching of the shells S which result in auniequal time lapses of eight form product hardened within predeterminedtion as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferredconstruction of the device, still in practice such deviations from suchdetail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit ofthe invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what! claim as new anduseful anddesire'to'se'c'ure by Letters Patent is:

1. Flame hardening apparatus comprising a pair of spaced supports for anobject to be treated, means mounting the supports for separate verticalmovement to and .from a raised position with the object in a heatingzone and a lowered position with the object in a quenching zone, meansto control such movements of the supports in alternating cycles, thecycle of each support including raising said support for a predeterminedtime lapse, a single flame unit for cooperation one at a time with saidpair of supports, means mounting the flame unit for alternate horizontalmovement between positions adjacent the supports, said flame unit whenin either of said positions being in heating relation to the object onthe corresponding support when the latter is raised, and means to movesaid flame unitbetween said positions in such predetermined timedrelation to the cycles of the supports as to position said flame unit inheating relation to the corresponding object when the supports areraised for said time lapse.

2. Flame hardening apparatus comprising a pair of spaced supports for anobject to be treated, means mounting the supports for separate verticalmovement to and from a raised position with the object in a heating zoneand a lowered position with the object in a quenching zone, means tocontrol such movements of the supports in alternating cycles. saidcycles half overlapping and the cycle of each support including raisingsaid support for a predetermined time lapse, a single flame unit forcooperation one at a time with said pair of supports, means mountingsaid flame unit for horizontal movement between positions in heatingrelation to the objects on the supports when raised, and means to movesaid flame unit into heating relation to the corresponding object beforeeach support is raised for said time lapse.

I 3. A flame hardening apparatus as in claim 2 in which said last namedmeans is arranged to function in such predetermined timed relation tomovement of said supports that the flame.

unit moves into object heating position to an object immediately priorto raising of each support for said time lapse, and moves out of saidposition immediately after lowering of said support at the end of saidtime lapse.

4. Flame hardening apparatus comprising a pair of spaced supports for anobject to be treated, means mounting the supports for separate verticalmovement to and from a raised position with the object in a heating zoneand a lowered position with the object in a quenching zone, means tocontrol such movements of the supports in alternating overlappingcycles, the cycle of each support comprising two movements at spacedintervals to raised position, and there held for predetermined periodsof time, a single horizontal flame unit for cooperation one at a timewith said pair of supports, means mounting said unit for horizontalhorizontal swinging movement'between centered object heating positionsabove said supports, and means to swing said flame unit to centeredposition above each support prior to the initial one of said movementsthereof to raised position and to swing said flame unitaway from saidcentered position after the corresponding and following time lapse, eachsupport upon the second of said movements thereof to raised positionbeing out of alinement relative to the flame ring unit whereby to permitunloading and loading of said support.

5. Flame hardening apparatus comprising a pair of horizontally spacedvertically and separately movable work supports, a single flame unit forcooperation one at a time with said pair of supports, said flame unitbein disposed in a horizontal plane above the highest level of thesupports, means mounting the flame unit for swinging movement through ahorizontal path between positions directly over the supports, means tocontrol the vertical movement of the supports in alternating order butin overlapping cycles whereby at one period in their cycles of movementboth supports will be lowered at the same time, and means to swing theflame unit from one position to the other when the supports are bothlowered.

6. Flame hardening apparatus comprising a pair of spaced vertically andseparately movable supports adapted to support objects to be treated, apower cylinder operative to move each support to and from a raisedposition with the object in 'a heating zone and a lowered position withthe object in a quenching zone, a single, horizon-, tal flame unit forcooperation one at a time with I said pair of supports, means mountingsaid unit for horizontal swinging movement between posi-? tions centeredabove said supports and adjacent; the latter when raised whereby to heatsup-'4 ported objects, a power cylinder connected with said unit andoperative to move the same be? tween said centered positions, andcontrol means arranged to effect operation of the support and flame unitactuating cylinders in predetermined timed order.

I. Flame hardening apparatus comprising a pair 01' spaced vertically andseparately movable supports adapted to support objects to be treated, apower cylinder operative to move each;

9. Flame hardening apparatus as in claim 7 in which said control meansfor said valves comprises ardriven shaft, a pair of cam plates fixed onsaid shaft; the separate valves for the pedestal actuating cylindersbeing operated by one cam at points 180 apart whereby the cycles ofmovement of the supports overlap by one-half cycle, and the separatevalve for theflame unit actuating cylinder being operated by the othercam.

10. Object heating mechanism for flame hardening apparatus whichincludes an object support mounted for controlled vertical movementbetween a raised position with the object in a heating zone and loweredposition with the object in a quenching zone; said mechanism comprisinga flame unit, means mounting said flame unit for horizontal movementalternately to and from a position wherein, upon movement of saidsupport to raised position; the object is disposed in heating relationto said flame unit, and power means automatically operative to causesuch alternate movements of the flame unit in timed relation to saidcontrolled vertical movement of the object support.

11. Object heating mechanism for flame hardening apparatus whichincludes an object support'mounted for controlled vertical movementbetween a raised position with the object in a heating zone and loweredposition with the object in a quenching zone; said mechanism'comprisinga flame unit, means mounting said flame unit for horizontal movementalternately to and from arposition wherein, upon movement of saidsupport to raised position, the object is disposed in heating relationto said flame unit, and power support to and from a raised position withthe object in a heating zone and a lowered position with the object in aquenching zone, a horizontal flame unit, means mounting said unit forswinging movement between positions centered above said supports andadiacent the latter when raised whereby to heat supported objects, apower cylinder connected with said unit and operative to move the samebetween said centered positions,

means to actuate each cylinder including a coni 8. Flame hardeningapparatus as in claim '7 in which said control means for said valvescomprises a driven'shaft, a pair of cam plates flxed on said shaft; theseparate valves for the support actuating cylinders being operated byone cam, and the separate valve for the flame ring unit actuatingcylinder being operated by the other cam.

' to move said flame unit into said position prior means automaticallyoperative to cause such alternate movements of the flame unit in timedrelation to said controlled vertical movement of the object support;said power means functioning to move saidflame. unit into said positionprior to but only upon alternate movements of said support to raisedposition.

'12. Object'heating mechanism for flame hardening apparatus whichincludes an object sup port mounted for controlled vertical movementbetween a raised position with the object in a heating zone and loweredposition with .the object in a quenching zone;- said mechanismcomprising a flame unit, means mounting said flame unit for horizontalmovement alternately to and from a position wherein, upon movement ofsaid support to raised position, the object is disposed in heatingrelation to said flame unit, and power means automatically operative tocause such alternate movements of the flame unit in timed relation tosaid controlled vertical movement of the object support; said powermeans functioning to but only upon alternate movements of said supportto raised position, and to move said flame unit away from said positionimmediately after movement of said support to lowered positionvfollowing each of said alternate movements thereof to raised position.

ROBERT G. LE TOURNEAU.

